There’s been a lot of talk about the end of television lately. You’ve heard it all. But one simple fact I heard today reminded me today of why television is doomed.

The end of the ratings period.

Yep, that old chestnut. But let’s stop and think for moment what it means and the legacy issues associated with the concept of the rating and non-rating periods.

It was something television could do. It could ‘have a holiday’. It could do this for one simple reason, it had no real competitors. TV broadcasters justified their actions too. They told us that their TV stars needed a break. They told us they were getting ready for the new season with great new episodes and shows. They told us we could enjoy our favourite re-runs. Sure we could go down the the video rental store, but it was much harder than turning on a television and a poor substitute at best.

Today, the end of the ratings period is a continued legacy which proves that broadcasters still don’t get it. We don’t care what time of year it is, we don;’t have to. We still spend money. The economy keeps churning. We still want current, new, exciting information and entertainment. Good news for us is that now we can go elsewhere to get it. And it’s more convenient than TV. It’s on demand, and uninterrupted. The fact that the ratings period still exists today has me flummoxed.

And as long as the television broadcasting industry thinks it can get away with it’s ‘holiday’, it is yet to understand what is happening. It alone is proof TV as an industry, is doomed. This little thing, the non-ratings period, is proof they don’t believe that is the end of their cosy little attention monopoly.

Good bye television, hope you enjoyed your stay.

Yes I know my enemies…. They’re the teachers who taught me to fight me

compromise,

conformity,

assimilation,

submission

Ignorance,

hypocrisy,

brutality,

the elite

All of which are American dreams.

Turns out they are the enemy of freedom, exploration entrepreneurship to…

Zach De La Rocha.

I developed a manifesto for what rentoid on the weekend which had a tremendous response. It wasn’t designed for anything but clarifying my business beliefs for rentoid. But it’s had over 300 views and 6 embeds in 2 days and turned out to be a pretty cool brand awareness vehicle. All it took was 10 minutes and an honest approach. It’s below.

Steve Jobs?

Bill Gates?

Richard Branson?

Not even close… it’s not a billionaire, not even a millionaire…

It’s William Kambkwamba. William personifies the meaning of the word ‘Entrepreneur’. He has done more with less than any of those above. In all probability William had as little a resource base available as any living person in the free world. This is no exageration.

Here’s why he is the worlds greatest entrepreneur:

- He had no financial resources

- He could not even afford to go to school, had no formal education

- He had to make it work with junk he found lying around

- He is self taught

- He created something incredibly complex

- He did it from a guide in what was then, a foreign language to him

- He built something for the good of others, to help his village

- He was not motivated by money

- He defied ridicule

- He is humble

William is the greatest entrepreneur in the world. William is one of the greatest inspirations I’ve ever had the fortune of being exposed to. Read up on William. Google him. Watch the Youtube videos on William. Absorb what William represents and re-consider what you beleive to be hardship next time you have a tough day. I do.

In nature, with every second something lives for, it’s probability of continued life increases exponentially.

The lessons for startups is simple, do the stuff that keeps you alive longest. And the most important thing we can do for our startup is keep our costs low. Low cost operations gives us the advantage of time. And time is the most important asset when it comes to working out our business model. Not capital, not technology, not employees, not research. Just time.

Yes, it’s true. I made this movie in 5 minutes with the help of Lukey Mac (rentoid regular). And all I did was type. It’s not going to get me an Oscar for best animation, but it’s very quick and a cool way to get a message out to your members, fans, family, anything really…

It’s a new website called www.xtranormal.com and I think it is amazing. There is really no limit to where this could go…. Home made full feature animated flicks? Possibly.

For startups it’s a great resource to communicate cheaply (Free) and easily. Build a series of episodes and in addition we can really translate our brand values and personality.

Startup Blog says xtranormal rocks!

I’m launching a new startup. For those who don’t know about it here are some of the key points:

• The brand extension comes from an already successful enterprise
• The partnership & legal agreements were entered into over a year ago
• The idea is not an original one, rather a new execution of a proven formula
• We didn’t pitch the idea or ask for permission, we just did it
• It’s a brand extension
• It’s a self funded project with no external capital. But we wont have ownership
• We will give away the corporation, once it is cash flow positive
• It’s a very long lead project
• It wont be cash flow positive for more than 20 years
• Estimated cost of the project is around $500K
• We do expect to however, to yield emotional & community benefits very early after launch
• It’s an industry we’ve never worked in before, but have a natural flair for it
• Some of the product development will be outsourced to 3rd parties
• Outsourcing will occur in 3 large segments of up to 6 years each
• The most important product development will be done in house
• There wont be any major advertising, brand awareness will be driven through family & friends
• We already know it’s unique, but wont require any intellectual property protection
• However, major security measures will be taken to protect the asset, especially in the incubation phase

My new startup is my baby due January 25th, and it’s the most exciting one I’ve ever been involved in. We’re involved in more startups than we think…

Startup Blog says: Let’s not define ourselves by what we own, but the cool stuff we do.

If you read this blog regularly you know that I have recently held a Startup School in Melbourne. Beside the fact that it was great fun it also a very enlightening entrepreneurial experience in a way that most businesses are not. It had a start, a middle and an end. It allowed me the entrepreneur to conceive of something, implement it, promote it and post analysis it. This is something we usually must do while our business is in progress.

Events give us the opportunity to improve our entrepreneurial skills, because everything is compressed into a tight time line, with defined deadlines. It forces us to make tough and quick decisions on the marketing mix (Product, Price Place and Promotion).

No matter what type of business you own, or skills you have you can and should run an event of some sort for the above reasons. The lessons you’ll gain will help your full time gig immeasurably.

Startup Blog says: Events are rad.

As a follow up to my last post on The White Collar Reality here is a simple Slide Share presentation as a thought starter of why it matters, and what is happening. This is a snippet from the syllabus at Startup School.

It was easy for white collar workers to be smug during the 1980’s. Their blue collar counterparts faced a dire future as hands on jobs increasingly went overseas to low cost labour markets. It even made it possible for information workers to extract larger salaries as the profitability of their organizations soared. The white collar desk jockey rode the wave of efficiency as corporations globalized and consolidated manufacturing.

Life has a funny way of going full circle. And now it’s our turn, the white collar worker. We are also an endangered species in developed markets.

Yep, you and me. We too, will be outsourced. All us accountants, IP Lawyers, Engineers, Computer Programmers (insert university educated profession here).

Don’t believe me? Then consider this: In India each year there are over 300,000 Engineering graduates and over 400,000 IT graduates who will happily work for 10% of what conglomerate X pays you right now. It’s only a matter of time before large corporations, who are usually struggling for top line growth, can get over the emotional barrier of having a large corporate head office and go offshore. The spreadsheet will make that decision for them. But this time the barriers will be lower than when all the call center went overseas because consumers wont even notice. Society wont care either. They are sick of people earning well above average incomes in ivory towers. No one will feel sorry for us.

Micro outsourcing as provided by Elance, Odesk and Guru for entrepreneurs is just the test case. The head office is next.

What to do?

Stop being a factor of production and start organizing them. Stuff gets done, things can be built, and anything which is done at a desk is about to disappear to low cost labour markets. The way information workers can survive is through undertaking entrepreneurial endeavors (corporate & private). Be able to manage complex projects and by managing situations and people, not doing stuff. The age of the entrepreneur is about to become something which is so significant it changes work just like the industrial revolution did.

Startup blog says: Are you ready?

Get ready at Startup School.